Burmese Rays

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Burmese Rays

"In Old Bagan, Burma [Myanmar], a young monk finds a perfect light source to read his book inside a pagoda," says Marcelo Castro of this picture he submitted to the National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest.

This photo and caption were submitted to the 2014 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest.

Heavenly and precious! There's just something special about the sun's rays shining down at just the precise moment. I love the young monk, the brickwork, the textures and colors, the rays, everything about this photo. Excellent!

Sunlight rays are parallel, because the sun is 150M km away, and also because it is so incredibly much larger than the earth. The rays are not parallel in this image, so it must be a spot light or a reflection of the sun on an imperfect mirror. There is a ray of that light that hits the book, and that would reflect enough light from the pages to light the subject's face.

If it is a real photo, then it is a true masterpiece of course. Totaly magnifient. But we would need a high resolution image to be sure it is note a too heavily manipulated image. Many details are very very intriguing at a close look. Ihope we are wrong!

In my opinion, this photo is not a real photo, but a photo collage or a strongly manipulated image : the disposition of lights and shadows on (and around) the face of the boy are absolutely not consistent with the angle of the sunlight. Check the shadows created by the red cloth between the book and the face : does the light come from the book ? It is not possible to obtain such an homogen and pale light on the face in this situation without a strong image manipulations.

The camera's today are amazing, as are the photographer's! There's nothing, no subject that cannot be enjoyed through this medium.' Let there be light, enough for me to read by,' and there you have it in shafts! A great picture one more time. j.e.s.........